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Chile was discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520. Santiago, the capital city, was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541 and the first vines were planted by Catholic priests in 1554. Chile enjoys ideal climatic conditions and is comprised of three wine regions. 108,569 hectares under vines for the production of wine, producing around 640 million litres of wine every year.

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In 1939 a massive earthquake devastated the Curico Valley. Following this catastrophe local farmers came together and formed the co-operative Vinos Los Robles, in order to revitalise the area and rebuild their lives.

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In 1990, when Chile recovered its democracy, Fairtrade companies from Belgium and the Netherlands visited the country looking for trade partners to help socially orientated organisations, co- operatives and small farmers. That was the start of the relationship between Fairtrade companies and Vinos Los Robles. Since then, more Fairtrade companies, including TRAIDCRAFT from the UK, Claro from Switzerland and Gepa from Germany have become importers of Vinos Los Robles. THE FAIRTRADE CONNECTION

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In April 2004 Los Robles was accredited by Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) to carry the Fairtrade Mark on their wines.

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 “To promote development and economic improvement of agriculture in general and vitiviniculture in particular, as well as economic, social and educational progress of farmers and vintners”  Non profit organisation  All its members have equal rights and obligations- one person, one vote.  Mutual help is the objective  Political and religious neutrality THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND THE CO-OPERATIVE

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A contribution from each bottle of Los Robles Fairtrade sold in the UK is made to a Social and Ecological Fund.

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The Los Robles Social & Ecological Fund supports the growers and their communities with local projects such as health insurance, a new canteen for employees and even a School Bus!

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SOCIAL & ECOLOGICAL FUND School bus – bought for children of El Corazon district Housing programme – Down payments for more than 30 Los Robles workers to buy a house Housing repair – funds for 30 Los Robles workers to fix homes in a poor condition Education programme - for all six schools in the poorest areas of Rauco, El Corazon and Palaquibudi. Loan for drip irrigation – for members of the El Corazon co-operative Supplementary health insurance

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INDIVDUAL CASE STUDIES Research was done to establish the most urgent needs of 39 of the peasants working for the 4 farmers accredited by the FLO. In many cases the group of agricultural workers worked together with the Social and Economic Fund in order to come up with the most practical way of assisting them. In some cases where the proposed/desired solutions, e.g. specific relocation sites, were not economically viable, the groups found a more suitable solution. José Figueroa He and his family live in a basic rented property, near a main road, with few domestic appliances and without any form of communication in the event of an emergency (radio transmitter/television etc). Access to and from the property becomes extremely difficult during the rainy season, and it often becomes impassable in winter. The family requested financial assistance to move to another area.

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Guillermo Riquelme’s family want to buy a small piece of land where they can build a 9m2 wooden house to live in. They would like to receive funding to help buy the land. Widower Nelson Caceres, needs in dire need of assistance with repair work on his house. However given that he and his brother are labourer they only require help with the building materials and plan to do the work themselves. INDIVDUAL CASE STUDIES

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Aldo Moreno, whose daughter is in her 3 rd year at nursing college, has had to borrow millions of pesos from relatives to help pay for her education. He received financial assistance so that he could begin to pay back his relatives. Oscar Perez, a father of three, moved house in order to try and meet the university fees where two of his children are studying Engineering (fees range from 30,000 – 55,000 Chilean pesos. However, he was still struggling to make ends meet and so asked the Social and Economic Fund to help fund the fees for his eldest two children, which would enable him to reduce his debts and get into a position to finance his youngest son’s university fees. Whilst it was agreed that further education may not be deemed as one of the most urgent needs among the workers, offering support to these youngsters encourages and provides hope for a better life to other families, many of whom have children at secondary school and who had only really considered the Armed Forces as an option for their children. Witnessing the success of another will be an incentive for the workers and their families. INDIVDUAL CASE STUDIES

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However Los Robles is not just about charity – the Co-operative was Chilean Winery of the year in 2001, proof of ongoing commitment to excellence in winemaking.

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Los Robles Fairtrade wines are available in Sainbury’s, Somerfield, Waitrose and Coop as well as your local independent retailer. If you can’t find Los Robles wines- ask your local shop to stock them!